HELP! please

[mama's_gone_raw]

Hi, I'm new here. I love this forum, and have been trying to go raw for a little over 2 weeks. I have some really great days, and SADly, some pretty bad ones too. Here's the problem: I'm a terrible overeater/night snacker. I do well during the day, but at night I LOVE to pig out on junk.
Here's an example of what I did today:
breakfast: tangerine
banana

lunch: mesclun mix with beets, carrots, mushrooms
1 cup of cooked vegan carrot-leek soup

snack: lara bar

dinner: green smoothie with 1 apple, 1/2 banana, 1 tangerine
1 huge collard leaf, 3 romaine leaves, chia seeds
1 hr later I ate a collard roll with avo, tomatoe, sesame seeds,garlic, onion,
nama shoyu, olive oil, ACV

Sounds like a HUGE amount of food, but 1 hr later I found myself obsessing about these potato chips the husband bought and I ate half the (huge) bag.
Now I feel incredibly guilty. I was doing so well today, and then I really
blew it. I do this sort of thing almost every night. I have no control. What should I do?
I'd appreciate any advice, especially from those of you who may have had similar issues in the beginning.

Thanks!

[MelissaO]

I cleaned out my cabinets and tossed out everything that was not healty, I do not bring any type of junk food into the house. I asked my husband to please not bring junk foods into the house. I have fresh baby carrots on hand at all times along with raw nuts, if I get hungry at night I eat those until I am satisfied.

Starting out can sometimes be a challenge but look at the positives that you have done during the day and try to add to it each day.....one day at a time.

:)

[michigan roman]

i like green tea to supress appetite . also ice water with lemon squeezed in .

and getting alot of avo and chopped walnuts in my salads helps fill me up and thusly stay away from late night munchies .

[ArcturusXIV]

A lot of times, craving salty food means your body needs minerals. Stock up on the greens.

[beckx]

hmm... i'd say while you work on cutting out late night snacking, find yourself a substitute. maybe a handful of pecans or walnuts with a little sea salt? gets you the fats and salt but in a healthy RAW way.

i'm not surprised that you're wanting salty and fatty, looks like you're eating lots of fruit and low fat raw... but you're getting your salt and fat from cooked soup and chips.

good luck on the transition, and congrats! you're doing great. :)

[HolyGuacamole]

It sounds like you're starving yourself to me. Eat more, my sister. Eat more.

Eat double what you've listed here (RAW) and come back and tell us if you're still after chips; I'm betting you aren't.

[bsqmurphy]

In my first few weeks RAW, it was really important for me to EAT MORE food & heavier foods earlier in the day to avoid becoming super hungry & snacky in the evenings. I made sure to have a good amount of avocado and/or nut pate (or similar) for lunch and mid-afternoon (and dinner for that matter) so that I had heavier foods throughout the day. This kept me satisfied throughout the day & not feeling hungry in the evening. If I still had a snacking urge in the evening - RAW goodies (I LOVE Alissa's almond balls - they are SUPER easy to make & extremely satisfying) or just snack on some nuts.

After a while, as my body has adapted more to the lighter feel of RAW food living, I have fewer cravings in the evenings and have naturally adjusted to less of the heavy fat (avocado & nut) foods on most days - but sometimes I still want it. And the best part - I can have it!

I start my day with a big green smoothie - a tangerine & banana would leave me so hungry within 1-2 hours! When I have a salad for lunch I add 1/2 avocado (or sometimes a whole one), or lots of sunflower & pumpkin seads, or a tahini-based dressing or some flax crackers on the side to be satisfied. Your dinner would be a reasonable meal & satisfying for me after a fuller day of eating for bfast, lunch, snack - but if I ate what you listed, I'd be hungry after dinner too & eat anything & everything I could get my hands on.

So, I guess what I'm saying is EAT MORE my friend - particularly some heavier fatty foods & greens earlier & throughout the day. If you're worried about portion control or too much heavy/fat food, don't worry - the transition will come naturally over time.

Bri.

PS Let go of the guilt and focus on how proud you are of yourself for moving into a higher RAW transition lifestyle and how wonderful it is that you are doing your best to honor your body & health.

[Raw Angel Mom]

If you are ok with fruits, i would increase your amount of fruits from morning to lunch and consider vegetable juice also. Green smoothies, will also feed you and nourished you. Apparently, when we are hungry, we don't have enough fruits and vegetables. At night, this is normal to want something heavier, you can consider a meal with an avocado.

Also be careful that this isn't part of emotional hunger. Perhaps have a plan, such going for a walk, doing exercise, or taking deep breath, doing yoga.

Try to plan for emergency snack. If you have dehydrator, have some chips done, or burgers or pizza crust, nut's snack etc... If you don't have a dehydrator, there are nice recipe that you can make with a very economical food processor, such tacco by using iceberg salad. Any burger nut recipe, any cheeze recipe, a salsa and couple slice of avocado. If this is the season for fresh corn or peas, you can through this also in your tacco. This meal is very filling, but most of all try to get your nutriments from fruits and vegetables/greens. Also, making a soup is fast and very filling too.

[curlygirl82]

I really feel for you - I struggle with the same thing.
Two things I've found help me:
1. A cup of hot tea. Sometimes, I've realized, I'm not actually hungry, I just want to have something in my mouth while I'm doing other things. The tea takes care of this, and is soothing. Get one you really like and make it a nighttime ritual.
2. When I get that way, I find I can stop it in its tracks if, instead of the mushy, heavy stuff I'm craving, I instead have a celery stalk. It's something about the crunch, I think, but it really helps. Munch on celery or bok choy - it'll give you something to eat, with hardly any calories, that's really good for you, and light.
Best to you!

[mama's_gone_raw]

Thanks everyone for the hints and encouragement. You guys are really great, and I believe the support will help me so much along this journey. My husband and 2 teenagers are carnivores/junk-foodies with as much healthy food thrown in as I can. Cooking for them can be a struggle, but the advice I read on this forum helps so much.
Again, a big thank-you to everyone, and I love your advice.

Peace

[ArcturusXIV]

Another thing is to make sure you're getting enough water. Usually that's less of a problem on the raw food diet, but just be sure your lips aren't chapped or anything. A lot of times, when our body craves water, we feel "hungry" rather than thirsty. That's the only good thing I learned in nutrition class. :)

[Green_Woman]

GREEN SMOOTHIES!!!!

Green smoothies will cut your cravings. ;) Give it a double-shot!!! :D

[rawstrength]

Eat more during the day and you will be less hungry in the evenings.
Big breakfast eaters tend to be slimmer than non-breakfast eaters. Also, if you have some quality sea salt in your raw food, or if you eat naturally salty raw foods like seaweed, or better yet, drink celery juice, you will have less cravings for salty junk food.
You really didn't eat much raw food at all (I know it seems like a lot, but raw food is mostly water and air, so you can eat more).

Recognize that the cravings will become less over time. Trust the process.

[Moretta]

Welcome and good luck on your RAWNESS journey.